Ice
by Halpert-fan
Summary: He was frozen. His legs couldn't move- couldn't run. He was stuck to face his fate. To face her hollow eyes and empty voice. All he could do was scream.


**Note from the Author:** I thought I'd be festive, haha. Hooray for Halloween this Friday! I don't know about you, but I happen to really like it. It's just...fun. Anyway, enough of my likes and such, you want to read...In my festive mood, I thought "What's scarier than Higurashi?" So here it is! A Higurashi/Halloween/Horror fic! Happy Halloween (week) everyone! :)

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Higurashi no Naku Koro ni or any of the characters, no matter how much I may want to.

* * *

Keiichi couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. The cold air kept snapping away at his face, trying to wake him up. But he wasn't dreaming. This was a nightmare. A nightmare he was stuck in until the finish. Until there was no hope of him waking.

He shook. His mind was screaming, but his throat was closed. The gleam of the stained metal sparked through the clouded night. This was it. This was his end. Keiichi's panic grew to full height. His voice fell loose and he screamed. As loud as he could.

But no one would hear him.

He was alone. During his last moments, he was all alone.

There was no one around but the steadily growing winter.

* * *

"Keiichi-kun! Guess what day it is!" Rena sang, spinning around joyously as she saw the older boy walking down the road towards her.

"A really cold one?" he guessed, shrugging his shoulders in a shiver. The leaves were all falling to the ground, coloring the earth every shade of yellow, orange, and red imaginable.

"What happened to summer?" Keiichi added through a mumbling whine. Rena shook her head.

"Nope! It's October 31st!" she declared, a bounce in her voice. Keiichi kept walking in an attempt to keep warm. He was still tired and didn't even really care about the date in the first place.

"Cool!" he said, trying to be happy for her, "What about it?" Rena's face dropped into a pout.

"Keiichi's stupid," she grumbled, "It's Halloween and you didn't even know…"

"Hey!" another sharper voice cried, "What have you done to Rena this time, Keiichi?" Keiichi became instinctively defensive.

"I didn't do anything!" he shouted back at Mion. She joined with them as they walked so no stopping in the cold would be necessary.

"Mii-chan!" Rena whined, stilled glued in a pout, "Kei-chan didn't know it was Halloween today."

"Wow, Keiichi, you're an idiot," Mion stated very matter-of-factly, rapping her knuckles on the top of the poor victim boy's head.

"I'm not an idiot!" Keiichi shot, "I just wasn't paying attention! It's not that big a deal…"

"Of course it is!" Mion retorted, "It's a huge deal! Today is a _holiday_! We're supposed to _celebrate_ it!

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Keiichi waved off. Rena started giggling behind a hand and the fight was over.

"You _do_ know what happens on Halloween, don't you?" Mion asked suspiciously, a mischievous grin taking place of her lips.

"What?" Keiichi asked harshly, not really caring, but still intrigued at the same time.

"Hmmm, should I tell him?" Mion prolonged, "What do you think, Rena?"

"Of course you should tell him! It's so important after all!" Rena exclaimed, her eyes getting big. Keiichi hated their ridiculous pranks and stories that never seemed to be true. He wasn't the new kid here anymore. Maybe the _newest_ but he definitely understood the basic history of the town now.

"All right…" Mion sighed, "Every Halloween-" Her voice became low and dramatic, causing Rena to stifle a laugh. "-a horror story comes to life! Year by year, people 'vanish' in front of their friends' eyes. As though they had never been there. Sometimes they show up hacked into pieces or strangled to death. Or sometimes, they never show up at all."

"Let me guess, all this happens at midnight?" Keiichi went along sarcastically.

"Of course! It's Oyashiro-sama's will!" Mion laughed. Rena tensed.

"Mion!" she shot. Both Mion and Keiichi stopped any thought they may have had and turned their full attention to Rena. Her face was down, her eyes on her feet.

"I'm…I'm sorry," Mion stuttered her apology and shoved a smile back on her face. But it wasn't as bright and playful as it had been before.

"Now," she continued, "Where was I?"

* * *

Keiichi couldn't sleep. Rika and Satoko had said they were going to have a sleepover while Rika's parents were in town. They all knew the two were doing it because they didn't want to be alone after all the stories Mion had told that day during school. Rena and Mion had said goodbye as usual. They must have been doing something together. After all, they were almost never apart. Keiichi had never seen closer friends. They had suggested all three of them do something to celebrate Halloween night, but Keiichi had protested. He had the house to himself that night, with his parents out of town, and wanted to just sleep. He really needed it.

Sighing, Keiichi looked over to the clock. It was late. Midnight. He groaned and rolled over in his bed. He was so tired, why couldn't he sleep? He forced his eyes shut and buried his face in his pillow.

He didn't know how long he had been drifting when he heard his name. Someone was screaming his name. Keiichi shot up, eyes wide open. He was panting. It had to have been a dream. He had fallen asleep and it had been inside his dream. He tried to calm his breathing.

"_Keiichi!!_" He lurched again.

"Rena!" Keiichi shouted, the inside of his throat tearing from the effort. It was her. She was calling out his name. It sounded like she was…in danger. His name echoed again.

Keiichi scrambled from his bed, his feet twisted in his blanket. He stumbled over himself as he shot out his bedroom door, sliding as he took the quick turn down the stairs.

Rena was hurt. Being hurt. Why was he the only one outside? Couldn't others hear her? Where was Mion? They should have been together. The night felt like daggers of ice piercing his skin. Winter was coming.

"_Keiichi!!_"

_Oh, God, she's crying,_ Keiichi thought in a panic as he ran. His heavy breaths formed soft gray clouds in front of him, his bare feet burned against the frost covered ground. Cry after cry grew louder and louder. Keiichi shoved his way through the mess of trees. He tried to run faster, but he was pushing himself as hard as he could. His muscles were becoming weak. His legs were going to give out. Keiichi snapped to the ground, falling on his face in the cold dirt.

The screaming had stopped.

"Keiichi-kun?"

Keiichi gasped and shot to his feet, spinning around. Rena was standing, unharmed, in front of him. Her eyes were…so empty. Hollow. Like she wasn't seeing anything.

Like she was dead.

"R-Rena," Keiichi spoke through sharp breaths, "You're all right…" Rena acted as though he hadn't said a word. When he had been so worried about her. When he had ran so far.

"She tried to kill me, Keiichi-kun," Rena continued. Her voice wasn't her own. It was bitter. And cold. It made Keiichi shiver. His heart was pounding out of control. The winter morning seemed warm in comparison to the icy feeling trembling inside of him.

"She told me it was Oyashiro-sama's will…" Keiichi felt his whole body begin to shake.

_Mion._

"But I knew she was lying…Oyashiro-sama loves me…" Rena whispered so calmly. Keiichi's eyes frantically searched the blackened area around him, his limbs too stiff to move.

"It's why He didn't choose me…Why He lets me come back again…again…and again…He loves all of us…But some of us aren't fit for this world…" Keiichi's throat constricted when he saw her. She was such a dark shape, camouflaged against the ground. He forced his legs to run to Mion's side, but stopped short. She was visible now.

Her eyes were staring in horror towards the night sky, her face smothered in her own blood. A thick red line, black in the night, streamed from her purple lips. Her arms were spread at her sides, slash marks running from her fingertips to her shoulders. Her left forearm was hanging by a thread from the elbow. The veins were still leaking her last drops of blood. The rest of it was pouring through gashes on her throat, legs, chest, and a large streak across her stomach- her guts threatening to spill out. Keiichi felt the vomit rise into the back of his mouth.

"M-Mion…" he choked. Rena's hollow voice spoke and he whipped around.

"Oyashiro-sama chose her, Keiichi-kun…But one isn't enough," Rena explained. Keiichi's breaths had sound as he watched her with inexplicable fear. She had a large object in her hand now. A silver-lined cleaver. Black splots left holes in the oversized weapon. Mion's blood.

"He always chooses two people…To accompany each other into the world after this…" Rena took a slow step towards Keiichi. He quickly inhaled, his voice scraping. _Run!_ his mind ordered. He needed to move. Just move. Call for someone. Anyone…All he could do was tremble violently. Uncontrollably.

"Feel honored, Keiichi-kun…" Rena's empty words comforted, her steps speeding up, "Oyashiro-sama has chosen you…" Keiichi couldn't breathe. His lungs collapsed on themselves. He finally moved, though his legs were still stone. His arms raised to shield himself and his eyes shut tight.

He heard the wind cut by Rena's cleaver. The bitter cold turned him to ice. He was thrust to the ground. His arms stung. The pain spread through his body like water. It stretched to every inch of his body. It felt like it were sucking in his skin.

Keiichi didn't know if his eyes were open or closed. The world was faded either way- a shadow hanging over him. A sharp wind flung through the air again. Keiichi let out a shattering scream, ripping his throat to shreds. He could hear it echo even over the sound of Rena's fading laugh.


End file.
